ABSTRACT
I first met Chief Todd Wuestewald in 2006 at a symposium held at the University of California, Berkeley, entitled, “Police Reform from the Bottom Up.” The symposium focused on the role of unions in police reform as well as innovative ways of managing police organizations to include the rank and file in decision-making processes and programs. At this symposium, which brought together a select group of police officers and prominent academics who had been writing about these topics, Chief Wuestewald stood out as a leader who runs an effective police department with highly motivated members. He struck me as a forward-thinking officer who could easily straddle both academia and police leadership. His personal disposition was as a thoughtful, progressive, and likeable individual who articulated a set of ideas that were fresh and embedded in both practice and theory. Prior to the
Introduction 123 Career 125 Changes Experienced 126 Policing Philosophy 131 Problems and Successes 133 Theory and Practice 136 Democratic Policing 140 Looking Ahead 142 Conclusion 143 References 144
symposium, I had not heard of Chief Wuestewald, nor had I heard of this place called Broken Arrow. I made it my business to discover that Broken Arrow is a city located in the northeastern part of the United States in the state of Oklahoma. It is the largest suburb of Tulsa and has a population of about 100,000 residents. I also learned that Broken Arrow is one of the safest cities in the state of Oklahoma. The Broken Arrow Police Department employs about 187 people and has shifted toward more participatory forms of management through the creation of an employee steering committee that is cross-functional.
